Aiming for 'village-type setting' and community gathering site

By Alex Burness

Staff Writer

Posted:
01/20/2018 06:35:46 PM MST

Updated:
01/21/2018 11:28:04 AM MST

Property to the east of 6700 Lookout Road in Gunbarrel Boulder that could be home to the future "Mockingbird in Fabulous Gunbarrel Green" development. The Boulder and Left Hand ditch is seen at the left and the golf course of the Boulder Country Club is in the background. (Paul Aiken / Staff Photographer)

What's proposed?

The concept plan for this project, which is subject to change in the coming months, calls for:

A brother-sister development team hopes to implant a "pulse" in Gunbarrel, by way of a project with a wide variety of uses that could help transform the northeast Boulder neighborhood.

The concept plan for the project, which Thysson George and Gemma Williams have called "Mockingbird in Fabulous Gunbarrel Green," calls for housing, a hotel, office space, a food hall, retail, a small library and 117 parking spots.

There's not much in the way of retail, dining or entertainment in Gunbarrel currently, but that's become a glaring problem, Thysson argued, given the recent construction of hundreds of new housing units in the area across three major sites.

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"What we've seen in the last decade is intensive, multi-family housing, and it's changed the dynamic. Up until about three years ago, when these apartments became inhabited, people didn't walk in the area," Thysson said.

"But there's still very little to do in Gunbarrel relative to Niwot or Longmont or downtown Boulder. ... We can accommodate some of those basic services."

He points to the hotel as an example of that. The hotel at the Williams's "Fabulous" development would feature 20 rooms.

"We have one opportunity, with the Hampton Inn, to have family and friends stay here," Thysson said. "There's no approachable, affordable, family-oriented place like this apartment-style hotel we're proposing."

The developers' family home sits about 100 feet from the project site, which covers 2.4 acres at 6700 and 6712 Lookout Road.

The eastern of the two properties currently features a commercial building that was one of the first ever built in Gunbarrel. Its tenants include three dental offices, a marijuana dispensary and a hair salon, and the concept plan calls for demolition of all but the one-fourth of the building that houses the dispensary and salon.

The western property is undeveloped, and runs up against an irrigation ditch.

"We really want to provide a village-type setting," Gemma said, "and something that is a community gathering site that allows people to have somewhere to go and to be able to do all of the things you do in daily life in one small little setting."

They've already presented the concept plan to the city Planning Board, and the City Council recently offered their feedback as well. It was generally quite positive, but with some strong suggestions.

For one, council members said they wanted to see the developers satisfy their affordable housing requirement by building those units on-site, as opposed to paying the city cash-in-lieu, as most do.

"Why do we need another hotel instead of putting on-site affordable housing where that'd be?" asked Councilwoman Lisa Morzel. Several other council members echoed the sentiment.

The site calls for 178 parking spots, but these developers are seeking a 40-percent reduction.

"We're really hoping this makes the community walk and bike more," Gemma said, explaining the rationale behind the request.

Generally, city leaders don't have a problem granting those reduction requests, but this time it might prove trickier. That's because the site has potential to be a regional draw, particularly given the planned inclusion of a food hall with up to 15 stalls and up to three different bars.

"If you want to see what parking issues you might end up with," Mayor Suzanne Jones told the developers, "go by Rayback (Collective, on Valmont Road), which is wildly successful and has challenging parking even though it's on a bike path."

City staff said a parking study, traffic study and transportation demand management plan would be required in coming months, as the project advances. Thysson said he hopes to return to the Planning Board for possible approval this summer.

The concept plan calls for all of the various uses to be contained in one contiguous structure, which would reach 51 feet at its highest point. Councilwoman Mirabai Nagle, who went to high school with Thysson and is the only council member who lives in Gunbarrel, said the proposed height gave her pause.

But, she added, "living in this neighborhood and directly across from (the site), I really love a lot of the ideas and think it could add a lot. ... This could be a really interesting thing for our community."

If all goes well with the city, the Williams siblings say, construction could start in early 2019, and wrap by the end of that year.

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